A HOSPITAL has issued an apology after staff members launched a hurtful verbal attack on a teenage patient, which was accidentally recorded on to her answerphone.

Sharon Roberts, 19, was both shocked and angered when a routine message from James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, went on to record staff making hostile comments about her.

Women from the Genito Urinary Medicine (GUM) clinic can be clearly heard discussing her as a “typical druggie or alkie” because of her small frame and even make degrading comments about her teeth.

Sharon was so distressed by the incident she passed on the audio tape to the Gazette.

The hospital staff go on to sneer at the fact that she has a Kurdish boyfriend - cruelly saying “who else is going to have her?”

Sharon, from Stockton, received the answerphone message on April 24 after she had missed an appointment at the clinic.

But unbeknown to any of the staff there, the caller did not hang up the phone properly, so the conversation that followed was recorded straight on to Sharon’s answerphone.

Sharon, who is currently unemployed, said: “I was totally disgusted to be honest. There was just no need for it. I’ve been together with Bashdir (Mawlwd) for three years and we love each other, so what’s their problem?

“They were saying I drink 100 units of alcohol a week, but I never said that, and the reason I’m thin is because I suffered from anorexia when I was younger”.

The hospital has since confirmed that a major investigation into the incident was under way.

“These people are supposed to be there to help you,” said Sharon. “So I wasn’t happy at all when I heard the message.

“These kind of things are supposed to be confidential. It should be between me, the doctor and the nurse. I’m completely disgusted. I certainly won’t be going back there again.”

Chief executive of the South Tees NHS Hospitals Trust Simon Pleydell said: “We would like to apologise unreservedly to Miss Roberts for the distress this has caused.

“Everyone has a right to dignity, respect and confidentiality and what has happened is totally unacceptable. The trust has launched a major internal investigation and we will keep Miss Roberts informed of its progress.”

The South Tees NHS Hospitals Trust website states: “Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential”.

What was on the tape

"It’s a message for Sharon. Could you please ring health advisor about your appointment that you missed this morning on 01642 854548. Thank you.

"That girl didn’t think she had a problem. One unit - that’s half a lager, half a beer, or one of them small glasses of wine or a shot of spirit. She drinks 100 a week. A lady should be 14 max.

"Hello, sorry... but she weren’t no lady."

"I know."

LAUGHTER...

"Was she really bad?"

"She was drunk as well."

"She can’t have said to you that she drinks 100 units, she must have put it in."

"No, well I said ‘oh you drink 100 units’, but she won’t have said that. It will be the doctor who will have guessed that from what she told him. I don’t know how he’s got to that."

MUFFLED...

"Here, alcohol intake - the patient doesn’t think she has a problem and is not really interested in help. She wasn’t bothered.

"How old is she?"

"18."

"The boyfriend said that as well. He’s Kurdish Iraqi the boyfriend."

MUFFLED...

"Was he canny enough?"

"Yeah."

"Oh yeah, but come on, who else is going to have her, bless her. She smells, she had black teeth. She’s a typical either druggie or alkie because she’s dead skinny."